Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( born August 24, 1945) is an American professional wrestling promoter and executive, American football executive, and businessman. Since taking over the company from his father in the 1980s, he has worked in the corporate area of WWE and behind the scenes. He currently serves as the majority owner, chairman, and CEO of WWE as well as founder of Alpha Entertainment, which is the holding company of the American football league the XFL. McMahon has also served as an announcer and professional wrestler in WWE—using a gimmick known by the ring name Mr. McMahon, based on his real-life persona. He is a two-time world champion, having won the WWF Championship in 1999 and the ECW World Championship in 2007. He was the 1999 Royal Rumble winner. He headlined multiple WWF/WWE pay-per-view events from 1999 to 2000 and participated in the main event of WrestleMania 2000 as a cornerman for The Rock. In singles competition, he holds victories over former WWF/WWE Champions Ric Flair, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Triple H. He continues his backstage and on-screen roles as the main authority figure along with the rest of the McMahon family. Prior to this, he was the broadcast color commentator and later chief broadcaster for the company until 1997. A third-generation wrestling promoter (following his grandfather Jess and father Vincent), McMahon is married to former WWE CEO and former American SBA Administrator Linda McMahon, with whom he has two children, son Shane and daughter Stephanie. He is the father-in-law of WWE executive/wrestler Paul "Triple H" Levesque and has six grandchildren. Early Life Vincent Kennedy McMahon was born on August 24, 1945, in Pinehurst, North Carolina, the younger son of Victoria and Vincent James McMahon. His father left the family when McMahon was still a baby and took his elder son Rod with him, therefore McMahon did not meet him until age twelve. McMahon's paternal grandfather was promoter Roderick James "Jess" McMahon, whose parents were Irish emigrants from County Galway. His paternal grandmother, Rose Davis, was also of Irish descent. In his early life, he also overcame dyslexia. Business Career World Wide Wrestling Federation McMahon first met the promoter for Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), his father Vincent J. McMahon, at the age of 12. At that point, McMahon became interested in following his father's professional wrestling footsteps and often accompanied him on trips to Madison Square Garden. McMahon wanted to be a wrestler, but his father did not let him, explaining that promoters did not appear on the show and should stay apart from their wrestlers. In 1968, McMahon graduated from East Carolina University with a business degree and after a nondescript career as a traveling salesman, he was eager to assume a managerial role in his father's World Wide Wrestling Federation promotion. In 1969, McMahon made his debut as an in-ring announcer for the WWWF's All-Star Wrestling. In 1971, he was assigned to a small territory in Maine, where he promoted his first card. He later became the play-by-play commentator for television matches after he replaced Ray Morgan in 1971, a role he regularly maintained until November 1997. Throughout the 1970s, McMahon became the prominent force in his father's company and, over the next decade, assisted his father in tripling TV syndication. He pushed for the renaming of the company to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The younger McMahon was also behind the Muhammad Ali versus Antonio Inoki match of 1976. In 1979, the younger McMahon and his wife Linda founded their own company, Titan Sports, which was incorporated in the following year and in 1982 - when McMahon was aged 37 - acquired control of the Capitol Wrestling Co. from his ailing father (who died in May 1984). World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE On February 21, 1980, McMahon officially founded Titan Sports, and the company's headquarters were established in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, using the now-defunct Cape Cod Coliseum as a home base for the company. At the time of his purchase of the WWF, professional wrestling was a business run by regional promotions. The various promoters shared an understanding that they would not invade each other's territories, as this practice had gone on undeterred for decades; McMahon had a different vision of what the industry could become. In 1983, the WWF split from the National Wrestling Alliance a second time, after initially splitting from them in 1963 before rejoining them in 1971. The NWA was the governing body for all the regional territories across the country and as far away as Japan. He began expanding the company nationally by promoting in areas outside of the company's Northeast U.S. stomping grounds and by signing talent from other companies, such as the American Wrestling Association (AWA). In 1984, he recruited Hulk Hogan to be the WWF's charismatic new megastar, and the two quickly drew the ire of industry peers as the promotion began traveling and broadcasting into rival territories. Nevertheless, McMahon (who still also fronted as the WWF's squeaky clean babyface announcer) created The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection by incorporating pop music stars into wrestling storylines. As a result, the WWF was able to expand its fanbase into a national mainstream audience as the promotion was featured heavily on MTV programming. On March 31, 1985, he ran the first WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden, available on closed-circuit television in various markets throughout the U.S. During the late 1980s, McMahon shaped the WWF into a unique sports entertainment brand that reached out to family audiences while attracting fans who had never before paid attention to pro wrestling. By directing his storylines towards highly publicized supercard McMahon capitalized on a fledgling revenue stream by promoting these events live on PPV television. In 1987, the WWF reportedly drew 93,173 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome (which was called the "biggest crowd in sports entertainment history") for WrestleMania III, which featured the main event of Hulk Hogan versus André the Giant. Attitude Era After struggling against Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW), McMahon cemented the WWF as the preeminent wrestling promotion in the late 1990s, when he initiated a new brand strategy that eventually returned the WWF to prominence. Sensing a public shift towards a more hardened and cynical fan base, McMahon redirected storylines towards a more adult-oriented model. The concept became known as "WWF Attitude", and McMahon commenced the new era when he manipulated the WWF Championship away from Bret Hart at Survivor Series in what is now known as the "Montreal Screwjob." McMahon, who for years had downplayed his ownership of the company and was mostly known as a commentator, became involved in WWF storylines as the evil Mr. McMahon, who began a legendary feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who challenged the boss's authority. As a result, the WWF suddenly found itself back in the midst of national pop-culture, drawing millions of viewers for its weekly Monday Night Raw broadcasts, which ranked among the highest-rated shows on cable television. In October 1999, McMahon led the WWF in an initial public offering of company stock. McMahon acquired the fading WCW from Turner Broadcasting System on March 23, 2001, bringing an end to the Monday Night Wars. On April 1, 2001, Extreme Championship Wrestling filed for bankruptcy, leaving WWF as the last major wrestling promotion at that time. Professional wrestling style and persona McMahon's on-screen persona is known for his throaty exclamation of "You're fired!", and his "power walk"—an over-exaggerated strut toward the ring, swinging his arms and bobbing his head from side to side in a cocky manner. According to Jim Cornette, the power walk was inspired by one of McMahon's favorite wrestlers as a child, Dr. Jerry Graham. The Fabulous Moolah, however, claims in her autobiography that "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers was the inspiration for the walk. McMahon has occasionally dropped his character performance upon real-life events affecting WWE, such as the death of Owen Hart at Over the Edge in 1999, the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the death of Chris Benoit. Generally-speaking, the character has been portrayed as a heel, though on occasion the character has been a face as well. His finishers consisted of the Pedigree (Double underhook facebuster), which was adopted from Triple H, People's Elbow / Corporate Elbow (Feint leg drop transitioned into a high impact elbow drop to the opponent's chest, with theatrics) (taken from The Rock), the running jumping guillotine leg drop (parodied from Hulk Hogan) and the McStunner/Mr. McMahon Stunner (Three-quarter facelock jawbreaker) inherited from Stone Cold Steve Austin.